The House of Councillors(参議院,Sangiin
?) is the upper house of the Diet of Japan. The House of
Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is
the successor to the pre-war House of Peers, the Japanese equivalent
of the BritishHouse of
Lords. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget,
treaties, or designation of the prime minister, the House of
Representatives can insist on its decision. In all other decisions,
the House of Representatives can override a vote of the House of
Councillors only by a two-thirds majority of members present.
However with the introduction of proportional representation
in the House of Representatives, the upper house has significantly
enhanced its power to block legislation with final effect at the
expense of the former where the government fails to attain the
two-thirds mark in almost every general election, such as in the
recent case of the Postal
Privatisation Bill block; this development has made the House
of Councillors quite powerful, perhaps approaching the Australian
Senate or the United States Senate in its
ability to influence public policy.

The House of Councillors has 242 members who each serve six-year
terms, two years longer than those of the House of Representatives.
Councillors must be at least 30 years old, compared with 25 years
old in the House of Representatives. The House cannot be dissolved,
as only half of its membership is re-elected at each election,
using a parallel
voting system. Of the 121 members subject to election each
time, 73 are elected from the 47 prefectural districts (by single non-transferable
vote) and 48 are elected from a nationwide list by proportional representation
with open lists. Up to
the 1998 election, there were 252 members, 126 elected at a time:
76 from prefectural districts and 50 elected nationwide. At the
2001 elections these numbers were reduced and the total number was
247 (126 elected in 1998 and 121 elected in 2001) and the open list
preference vote was introduced.